Are PCs dying?

"PC shipments in Western Europe fell 11% in the third quarter, according to the technology research firm Gartner.

"A total of 14.8m units were shipped by the major manufacturers, which was a fall of 11.4%.

"The mobile-PC market was particularly hard hit with a 12.6% decline, driven by more than a 40% decrease in mini-notebook shipments in the third quarter of 2011.

"Shipments of desktop computers declined by 8.7%.

"The market segment showing the greatest decline was in the consumer segment, which fell 18.8% year-on-year."

BBC News - Western European PC shipments fall 11% in third quarter

We don't see the PC as endanger of extinction, yet. There are still many tasks that a tablet or smartphone are not enough. Tablets are better for reading but PCs are better for writing. Smartphones are for computing on the move, tablet for leaning back computing, but there is still a need for lean forward computing: writing, coding, intense game playing, virtual reality, graphic design, research, and many other tasks that require a powerful computing and rapid text input.

PCs were being over sold. For years the only option for personal computing was the PC, and people were using them for things like reading or mobile computing. The mini laptop was a perfect example, people like them because they were light and they could use them in coffee houses.

The introduction of smartphones and tablets has simply given people better tools for many computing uses than the PC, but it will be some time before the tablet and smartphone replaces all uses for PCs.